


Brooding, Coffee & Dogs

by Louissa



Category: Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Dogs, Fluffy, Happy Ending, M/M, Previous mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 15:01:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17164148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Louissa/pseuds/Louissa
Summary: It’s about time Tim got a dog





	Brooding, Coffee & Dogs

From a young age Tim had always wanted a dog, he couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t want a dog. It all started when he was four, the Drake family was attending a dinner party in Star City. While sitting next to his mother Tim was staring at the food in front of him but didn’t eat, he was too occupied staring at the rather large dog that sat under his feet. While his parents weren’t paying attention Tim managed to wriggle out of his seat and onto the floor, without hesitating he’d crawled under the table and sat with the dog gently patting its ear. That is when Tim Drake fell in love with Dogs.

The whole car trip home Tim had begged his parents for a dog, he promised that he would take care of it. He would even take it on long walks and clean up after it, but Tim would soon learn that there would be no dogs in the Drake household.

“Timothy Jackson Drake for the last time, you are not getting a dog!”

Jack was drunk again; his excuse to mourn his now dead wife was to hit the bottle and at times his son too. When Tim approached his father he hadn’t seen the half-empty bottle in his hand, nor had he noticed the three empty ones piled on his desk already.

“But-”

“That’s enough! There will be no animals in this house!”

-

“Hey hey- it’s just a dream, you’re okay. No one’s going to hurt you.”   
  
He woke with a start and bumped heads with Dick, his hands flew to his forehead as a whine left his lips and Dick grunted in pain. Tim sat up rubbing his forehead and looked at Dick who was sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Sorry Dick, it was just a nightmare. I’m okay.”

“Your father did he- did he ever hurt you?”

Tim looked away while pulling the sheets up to his chest, he leaned against the head board as Dick sat in front of him hands folded neatly in his lap.

“Only after mum died.. He got really drunk a-and-”

“You don’t have to tell me everything. I promise nothing like that will happen.”

“Thanks Dick.”

-

It had been a year since Dick had asked him about his father, six months since he had secretly moved in with Jason, three weeks since he’d last spoken to Bruce. They’d argued again, Tim was tired and Damian was once again antagonising him and when Bruce didn’t come to his defence Tim wasn’t surprised, it had been like that for a while now. He remembers the day that he asked Bruce if they could get a dog, at that stage Bruce was still mourning the death of Jason and Tim thought another presence might help. He was wrong. Bruce had told him that a dog would not be cared for, vigilantes couldn’t take care of a dog while protecting the world, it just wasn’t meant to be. So Tim gave up on ever getting a dog, that was until Damian came along.

He felt betrayed when Damian was able to keep Titus and Alfred the cat, it wasn’t fair that Damian barely had to argue about keeping the two now beloved pets and he couldn’t even convince Bruce to let him adopt a dog. It wasn’t fair that Damian could get away with anything he wanted, with calling him good for nothing.

“Hey there babybird, what’s got you brooding again?”

Jason’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts, Tim’s shoulders sagged and his focus returned to his boyfriend who shoved a mug of coffee into his hands. Smiling softly Tim took a sip and hummed as the warm liquid woke his tired body, he allowed Jason to pull him into a gentle hug while he tried to find the right words.

“It doesn’t matter, Jay, thanks for the coffee.”

“It’s upset you so it does matter prettybird, and don’t try and distract me by complimenting the dirt water you drink.”

“I’m offended.”

“Babybird you know you can tell me anything right?”

Tim ducked his head and took another sip of his coffee before placing it on the counter, taking Jason’s hand he moved to the couch and waited for Jason to sit before curling up in his lap. The feeling of warmth that surrounded him made it easier for Tim to relax, Jason’s thumb rubbing circles on his knee caused him to melt into his boyfriends gentle hold.

“I was thinking about dogs.”

“Dogs?”

“Yeah when I was younger we were at a dinner party and they had a dog, a great big grey hound I think. After that I realised I really wanted a dog, but my dad he-”

“He was an asshole and didn’t want you to get a dog?”

Tim nodded as Jason squeezed him to his chest, sighing he buried his face into Jason’s chest humming contently when Jason started to rub his back while a pair of lips were pressed to his forehead.

“And then Bruce wouldn’t let you get a dog, but he let the demon brat have one?”

“Bingo.”

There was a moment of silence and Jason’s chin rested on top of his head, Jason tapped lightly against his spine causing him to shiver slightly while his own fingers traced lazy patterns on Jason’s bicep. The steady beat of Jason’s heart caused a wave of exhaustion hit him like a ton of bricks, yawning softly Tim grabbed the blanket and pulled it over them both before closing his eyes.

“Doesn’t matter anyway.. we don’t need a dog.”

“Alright, just get some sleep babybird, I love you.”

“Love you too Jay.”

-

Tim woke alone, he was still on the couch buried under a mountain of blankets he could only assume that Jason had piled on top of him. Yawning he sat up and took his time to stretch while scanning the room for his boyfriend, slowly he pushed the blankets off of him and moved to the kitchen to start a fresh pot of coffee. The sound of the front door unlocking caused Tim to tense, he put his mug down and peeked around the corner only to see Jason removing his bean and so he went back to his coffee.

“Babe I’m home!”

“Kitchen, need coffee.”

A soft whimper caused Tim to freeze slightly, dropping the cup he ran out of the kitchen to see a small golden retriever in his arms. Tim could feel his heart stop as tears started to stream down his cheeks, moving forward Tim gently took the small puppy into his arms and held him securely to his chest as he cried. Tim’s tears were licked away by the tiny puppy in his arms causing him to laugh as he looked up at Jason.

“Is he?”

“Ours, his name is Ben.”

Tim stood on his toes and pressed a gentle kiss to Jason’s lips before pulling away to look at the whimpering puppy in his arms, gently he rubbed behind the puppies ears and his smile grew brighter.

“Jason you didn’t have to-”

“I know I didn’t but you’ve wanted a puppy for so long now.”

“It’s perfect, Jason he’s perfect.”

The two of them stood in the hall way and Ben wriggled in his arms barking happily as Jason joined in on smothering the puppy in attention, Tim knew that his first Christmas with Jason would be an amazing one.


End file.
